The ninth meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development has commenced in Jos, Plateau state, with the theme, Housing Delivery in the Covid -19 Era and Beyond : The Strategies for Affordability and Accessibility.
The meeting is an annual meeting of stakeholders in the building industry, organised by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The ministry’s s mandate among others is provision of affordable housing for Nigerians.
Participants at the meeting include: State Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries for lands, housing and urban development, General Managers of housing corporations, Surveyor -Generals, professional/regulatory agencies in the housing sector and other stakeholders in the built industry.
In his remarks, the Director Planning, Research & Statistics, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Olajide Ode-Martins disclosed that the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development is an annual event and the highest policy making organ of the Housing Sector which affords stakeholders in the sector an avenue to deliberate on issues concerning the growth of the sector.
Also in an welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Plateau State Ministry of Housing, Engr. Alfred Datoel, noted that Land, Housing and Urban Development were the life wire of all towns and cities of the world.
“Land, Housing and Urban Development are the life wire of all towns and cities of the world. We know that no land, no house, no comfort and security of life no urban development no beauty of towns and cities,” he said.
Noting the importance of developing slums to towns and cities and their proper management, Engr. Datoel urged all the participants to come up with policies for implementation by practitioners in the public and private spheres of lives with a view to improving the standard of living of the average Nigerian.
He added that new ideas and policies generated from the meeting would combat the challenges of increasing slums within towns and cities across Nigeria.
Eng. Datoel further appealed to government to implement very important resolutions which could have good bearing on improving the quality of life.
Nnenna.O
